North Penn 11, Souderton 10 (OT)
‘Teflon.’
That was the first word out of a jubilant Stacey Pellechia’s mouth after she scored the game-winning goal with 59 seconds remaining in overtime in Monday night’s SOL showdown against visiting Souderton.
‘Teflon’ hardly seems like the kind of thing someone would shout out after a big win, but the North Penn junior had a logical explanation for her choice of words.
“I just started screaming ‘Teflon,’ which is on the back of our shirts,” Pellechia said after the Maidens’ heartstopping 11-10 OT win. “It means we’re resistant to everything. Nothing can affect us.”
That certainly appeared to be the case in the second half of Monday’s showdown that saw the Maidens twice fall behind by two goals – the second time with just five minutes remaining after Kirstin Russell found Jenna Hayes for a goal that put the Indians on top 10-8.
“None of us let our heads go down when we were losing,” Pellechia said. “If you make a mistake, that’s in the past, and we’re right back to where we were. We feed off of each other constantly.
“(This) was incredible. This game came down to heart and desire. We worked so hard in the offseason and every single day at practice, and we deserved this game.”
Trailing 10-8 and their SOL winning streak in jeopardy, the Maidens – who clinched a share of the SOL Continental Conference crown – battled back. First it was senior Halie Lear coming up with a ground ball and taking it in for the score to make it a 10-9 game with 4:49 remaining in regulation.
“She’s a little sparkplug out there,” Maiden coach Jami Wilus said of Lear, who led the Maidens with the hat trick. “She was all over the place.
“She sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, but she does all the little things for us on the field.”
Lear found herself playing midfield in Monday’s win when Wilus elected to move senior Abbie Hartman – in her first game back after an ankle injury – from midfield to attack. Lear played midfield last summer for the Maidens before tearing her ACL.
“It seems like she’s getting back in form now,” Wilus said.
With fans from both sides on the edge of their seats, the Maidens and Indians exchanged possessions, and when it mattered most – with 30 seconds remaining, Pellechia turned a pass from teammate Macie Hauck into the equalizer, sending the game to overtime.
The Indians won the opening draw in OT but lost the ball shortly thereafter, setting the stage for the dramatic finish and Pellechia’s game-winner, which came on a free position.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Pellechia said. “I’m just thinking, ‘I’m making this goal, no matter what, and I’m doing it for Wilus and for everybody on my team.
“The league championship is on the line, and we wanted this so bad.”
Early on, the Indians – who extended the Maidens to the limit before falling 11-8 in the initial meeting between the two teams – baffled the Maidens with their swarming defense in a first half that saw Souderton take a 3-2 lead into the intermission.
“Souderton did a nice job of collapsing on the ball,” Wilus said. “When you saw you had an open lane, it closed fairly quickly, and I don’t think we were getting our shots off soon enough.
“We needed to beat our first defender and get our shot off before the slide came from the other side.”
The Maidens came back to knot the score 3-3 after a Rachel Shaw goal less than a minute into the second half, and the two teams were still deadlocked 4-4 after a Dani Horn goal. The Indians went on top after a goal by sophomore Liz Mower, but there was a price tag attached to the goal as the sophomore standout went down and did not return to the lineup.
Despite Mower’s absence, the Indians went on top 6-4 after Notvest carried the ball from beyond midfield and split the Maidens’ defense for the score.
The Maidens answered with a 4-0 run that included a pair of Lear goals sandwiched around an unassisted goal by Shaw and a free position goal from Garrie Grenfel.
Ask Lear what the Maidens said to motivate each other when they were down, and she has a ready answer.
“Pick it up,” Lear said. “That’s it – just pick it up and do what we know how to do.
“We wanted this game a lot. We were really determined to play our best.”
If it seems as though the Indians would have folded their tents after the Maidens’ 4-0 run, guess again. Notvest (Carly Kendall assist) scored at the 8:48 mark, and after Lindsay Walbrandt scored off the ensuing draw, the two teams were deadlocked.
A free position goal by Russell was followed by the Haye’ goal that put the Indians on top 10-8. The rest is history.
“We did a good job of keeping our composure and playing our hearts out,” said Souderton coach Nicole Bauer, who is just 10 days away from the due date of her first child. “We came back from deficits twice. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
While the Maidens upped their league mark to 8-0 (14-1 overall), the Indians fell to 4-4 in league play (10-5 overall).
“We all came out hard, and we knew from the last time we could compete with them,” said Notvest, who had a game-high four goals. Tonight we could have won.
“All of our losses have been very close. We could be undefeated right now, and this shows we can compete with the best teams, and we can be one of them.”
Hatboro-Horsham 16, Pennridge 14
The Rams gave the Hatters all they could handle, rallying from a 10-6 halftime deficit to pull to within two goals.
Nicole Beck, Cortnee Daley and Sarah Tustin led Hatboro with three goals each while Lauren Purvis and Kelly McCartin each scored a pair of goals. Caroline Hagan and Lizzy Carr both added single goals.
For the Rams, Julia Colyar had four goals, and Jen Moyer added three goals. Jess Roy and Dayna Erdman both had two goals while Sam Myers, Nikki Beck and Taylor Dachowski each added single goals.
Pennridge goalie Jenna Esposito had 13 goals while Hatboro’s Jackie Giovinazzo had 12 saves.
Ram coach Liz Wallace lauded the standout defensive efforts of Sarah Wiley and Dayna Erdman.
Upper Dublin 14, Plymouth Whitemarsh 3
Kelly and Amy Cross combined for seven goals and eight assists with Kelly contributing four goals and three assists and Amy, three goals and five assists. Jordan O’Reilly, Siobhan Brady and Brook Callahan each had two goals, and Emily Hitchings added one goal to close out the scoring.
For PW, Mollie Getzfred had two goals while Amy Powell added a single goal. Cait Mundy contributed an assist.
Upper Dublin’s Anna Lauer had two saves while PW’s Becky Stiteler had five.
Downingtown East 15, Abington 9
Courtney Cox scored five goals and contributed an assist while teammate Molly Seefried added three goals to go along with three ground balls, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the high-scoring Cougars in a non-league contest.
Carli Fitzgerald contributed a goal, two assists, three ground balls and four caused turnovers while Courtney Enderle had three draw controls and three ground balls.
Goalie Emily Towey was credited with seven saves.
Upper Perk 16, Upper Merion 6
Mel Ryan (one assist) and Kellie Manoppello each scored two goals for the Vikings. Michelle Bowes and Amanda McAteer both added single goals to close out the scoring for the Vikings, who fell to 7-8 overall.
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